Diary

• So the conference is over, but what a boon it was for the people of Birmingham. "Big Dave" brought the "big society" to town and, specifically, to Alum Rock. The big idea doesn't get bigger than this. There were lovely pictures in the Daily Mail of Dave helping with the Tories' Social Action Project, a plan to refurbish a community hall called the Dolphin Centre. "Our aim is to renovate the centre – with education and training facilities, a coffee bar and gym – so local groups can use it as a long-term community asset," said Oxford MP Nicola Blackwood. Which was nice. But hang on – at the same time locals, egged on by Liam Byrne, point out that Con-Dem cuts have already hit school refurbishment plans in the area to the tune of £30m. Indeed, Michael Gove's Building Schools for the Future cock-up meant the death knell for plans to make vital improvements to a school close by, in Washwood Heath and Hodge Hill. So the visit of Dave and chums, ferried to the site by their friends at Jaguar Land Rover, was all very welcome, and one mustn't be churlish about volunteerism. But isn't this the problem? Wouldn't it be better if they had sent the schools recently deprived a nice fat cheque?

Yes, the conference is over, and still some are asking whether schools minister Nick Gibb accidentally let slip Conservative schools policy at a fringe meeting organised by Phillip Blond's thinktank, ResPublica. Describing his plans to "set free" schools from local authority control, Gibb told the audience his department would be "removing democracy". Realising his error, Gibb quickly added: "Oh dear me, we're removing bureaucracy, not removing democracy." In truth, they are removing a bit of both.

• Local government minister Eric Pickles is keen on stripping away the bureaucracy, but what he thinks about democracy we just don't know. For among his pleasures at conference was to appear as guest of honour at a late-night reception hosted jointly by website ConservativeHome and the European Azerbaijan Society. ConservativeHome, all well and good; but the European Azerbaijan Society is a lobby promoting business with the oil-rich but democracy-poor country in the Caucasus. According to the Foreign Office, the election that put President Ilham Aliyev in power there "did not meet democratic standards". The FCO notes: "Azerbaijan's human rights record remains poor, with 'physical abuse and torture rampant in police custody'." There has been, it says, a "significant deterioration in freedom of expression with a new wave of intimidation of journalists". But on the upside, their lobbyists know a friendly minister when they see one. And the nibbles they provide at parties, oh my!

• They are living the high life, but we are all in this together, so it won't and can't last. Already signs of desperation are evident in the public sector. Officials at the Certification Office in London have been warned to be on their guard because the other day, despite all the security, a painting from the office wall went missing. A sneak thief with a handbag four feet tall is being sought.

• Day 455 of the phone-hacking scandal. And though the allegations continue to mount, some join David Cameron in feeling that there is an element of unfairness about the claims being levelled at News International and the PM's director of communications. "I do think Andy Coulson's being stitched up about phone-tapping," tweets comedian David Schneider. "I've left him a message to that effect on my voicemail."

• We know the great comedian just passed will be missed here and, of course, in Albania. But there will also be mourning among some who sat in the European parliament. Former MEP Richard Corbett, now a senior aide to EU president Herman Van Rompuy, recalls a debate when a member from Normandy came up with just the right compromise at the right time. "One of the French MEPs, using an old French expression, said this was thanks to "la sagesse normande" (the wisdom of the people from Normandy). The English interpretation relayed this as "all thanks to Norman Wisdom". Much hilarity among British and Irish MEPs. Norman was good for a laugh.